Palestine-Israel, There are more invitations for the AAtW to join local struggles than we can

The third Intifada slowly but surely collect momentum. In spite of the increase in the number of the Israeli activists we cannot manage to participate in all places we are invited to. Some villages start it on their own not waiting for our meager protection from harsh repression. The tense is climbing due to the expanding of hunger strike of the Palestinian administrative prisoner. No one know what will start after the death of the first hunger striker thus Israel state forces already released two of them. [Italiano]

(Photo: Rani Burnat)

Al Aqaba

"Hi all, there will be a demonstration in Al Aqaba (Jordan valley) and we have been invited. If you can make it please let me know."

Beit Ommar

Saturday weekly protest, Apr. 21, 2012. Protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Occupation Jails, three participants were injured today due to the Israeli Forces violence including Yousef Abu Mariya 40 years old, who was hit with a stick in the face, Hamza Abu Hashem 14 years, was hit in the head, and Ahmed Abu Hashem 48 years, was pushed hardly on the rocks.http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.41591701508527...80298

Bil'in

About 20 Israelis with the anarchists against the wall joined some international activists and people from the village in the usual Friday demo. We marched towards the new separation wall with the usual chants with the theme of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. On the way we passed near the solidarity tent. When we arrived at the wall, the usual repression activity of the Israeli state force started with tear gas canisters shooting, the spray of skunk stinking water and treats of shooting by rifles.

Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation and got skunked. Three Palestinian journalists, Ali Abu Rahme, Haitham Khatib, and Hamde Abu Rahme, as well as Waji on his motorcycle and two other activists were temporarily detained. The IOF took away Ali's gas mask and refused to give it back.

Weekly demonstration, Apr. 20, 2012, "I'm broadcasting Nabi Saleh live on #Ustream. Come watch and chat! 15:14 http://t.co/WZwTegO1"
In Nabi Saleh, soldiers have taken over the center of the village to try and prevent the demo. Protesters are trying to flank from the south.
Billal Tamimi, a member of the popular committee in Nabi Saleh was arrested during the demonstration at the village today as he was trying to prevent soldiers from arresting his wife, Manal.
Picture Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills http://popularstruggle.org/content/nabi-saleh-0
Large forces of Israeli army and border police raided the village of Nabi Saleh this morning, long before the demonstration in the village began. The forces, apparently including high ranking officers and accompanied by Israeli media, blocked the local gas station and main road to the village in an attempt to halt the demonstration. Protesters, in response, took a different route than usual for their march, bypassing the army through the hills and making their way to the spring confiscated by settlers of Halamish. A small group of protesters actually managed to set a precedent when they got approximately 50 meters away from the spring. In the meantime, clashes began to erupt in the village. While the army aiming at first to present "restraint", following international criticism on extreme use of force against unnamed protesters this week. However, this guise did not last for long: beyond the regular use of tear-gas canisters and the foul smelling "skunk" water canon inside the village, the army also used clubs to beat up women and children.
In clashes that took place inside the village, between youth and soldiers, two Israeli activists were arrested, one is still held in custody. The army also made an attempt to arrest Manal Tamimi, one of the major women activists of the village. As her husband, Billal, approached to release her from the soldiers' grip, he was himself arrested, beaten and his camera broken. Manal and Billal Tamimi are the parents of the boy injured last week when a tear gas canister hit him in the face.

Women action, Sunday 22.04.2012 Palestinian women take back spring as settlers, soldiers look on.
For the first time in years, a group of roughly 30 women was able to reach the Nabi Saleh spring, which was taken over long ago by settlers. The group was made up of local women, who were joined by activists from other villages, and supporters from Ramallah and Jerusalem. The women vowed to return, hoping to hold on to the spring. Every Friday for the past three years or so, Nabi Saleh residents, along with Israeli and international supporters, have been demonstrating against the theft of their lands by settlers from the nearby settlement of Halamish. At the focus of the struggle is the attempt to reach the Al-Kous spring, which was taken over by settlers in recent years. Week after week, demonstrators march toward the spring, but are stopped by soldiers who disperse them with tear gas (sometimes aimed directly at protestors and once resulting on the death of a Nabi Saleh resident) with “skunk” water, severe beatings, arrests and more. Soldiers and settlers who arrived at the scene did not stop the women from picnicking around the spring. After a few hours, the group left, vowing to return.
“The point of this direct action was to reclaim what the settlers have stolen from us,” says Irene Nasser, one of the activists. “Many of us were very excited about being able to reach this beautiful place, after more than 100 demonstrations during which we were barred from going there. The uniqueness of the action was also in that it was about women taking the popular struggle into their own hands and leading it together.”
Nasser believes that the soldiers did not react this time both due to the fact that they were facing a women-only group, and as a result of the Shalom Eisner story – in which an officer was caught on video beating a Danish peace activist – and the trauma it caused in the army’s ranks. In the coming weeks, the women plan to organize more direct actions, both in Nabi Saleh and elsewhere, in order to both challenge the army and empower the women taking part in the struggle.http://972mag.com/palestinian-women-take-back-spring-as...3102/
Photos by Keren Manor and Oren Ziv / Activestills http://t.co/pEfqHIdB
Palestinian, Israeli and international women enjoy a picnic near the main spring:http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.41669866834044...80298
Bilal Tamimi:
A judge at the Israeli Ofer Military Court ordered the release of Palestinian videographer, Bilal Tamimi, after a video presented in court proved he was the one attacked by an Israeli Border Police officer. http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/court-orders-rel...ficer

Ni'lin

Friday, weekly demonstration, Apr. 20, 2012

Dozens joined the protests against the Wall in Ni'ilin this week. During the demonstration, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters directly at protesters, against its own open-fire regulations. One boy was injured by a rubber coated bullet and evacuated.
Picture Credit: Anne Paq/Activestills http://popularstruggle.org/sites/default/files/images/n...w.jpg
Some fifty residents of the village of Ni'ilin, and a handful of Israeli and international activists joined the weekly protests against the Wall and settlements in the village this week. Shortly after the Friday prayer, which took place in the olive groves, protesters marched towards the Wall. As they were approaching the concrete wall that surrounds the separation fence, they were targeted by Israeli soldiers stationed safely on the other side. The soldiers also used the "skunk", foul-smelling water cannon, aiming to disperse the demonstration. At this point, protesters moved to the western stretch of the Wall, where clashes erupted between the army and the local youth. During these clashes, the army shoot tear gas canisters directly at protesters, in head level, against its own open-fire regulation. Several protesters have been severely injured in the past due to this manner of shooting. Mustafa Tamimi from the neighboring village was killed earlier this year when a tear gas canister was shot at him from close range. The army also used rubber-coated bullets, which led to the injury of one youth, who was evacuated to the hospital to receive medical treatment.http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.41524880848542...80298
Nilinvillage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEsLwsSFhw

Kufer Qaddoum

Soldiers just used live bullets against the protesters in Kufer Qaddoum. No injuries recorded.
A resident of Kufer Qaddoum, brother of popular committed coordinator, is being detained at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village. Military jeeps are blocking the single entrance to Kufer Qaddoum, laying siege on the village to stifle the weekly protest.

"As with all recent weeks, at the entrance of the village was a surprise checkpoint, to whom it is a surprise. As we are used to in the recent weeks we, entered the village in an alternative way. About two hundred Palestinians, handful of international and ten Israelis marched toward the blocked road. The army waited for us closer than usual and soon after a few minutes the skunk waterings truck came and sprayed the village with the best stink of the occupation. Immediately afterwards the army began shooting tear gas into the crowd of protesters.
During the demonstration two shots of live ammunition were fired into the air in the direction of the shabab probably. It was the first time live ammunition was fired in Kadum. This Friday, the demonstration was dispersed without the usual triumph march but also without serious injuries - apart from gas inhalation and one Palestinian who was hit by a tear gas canister and received treatment in the village.
Update on the 21 detainees arrested on the night of the mass arrests two weeks ago:
Seven were released on bail. The rest remain in detention. Some of them do not want or can not pay the bail.
On the way back to Israel a maned checkpoint was waiting for us at exit from the village. We were let go after being detained for a few minutes."
Picture: A Palestinian protester returning a tear gas canister fired by the Israeli military during a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kafr Qaddum, http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s320x320...n.jpghttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.41525103848520...80298

A-Tur & Sheikh Jarrah 20/4/2012

Demonstration in Issawiya Friday, April 20th, at 1:00 PM at the Lookout on Mount Scopus
Despite the partial success in blocking the planned "Slopes of Mount Scopus National Park," the occupation continues to strengthen its choke-hold around Issawiya. On the evening of Land Day, police forces burst into the neighborhood and carried out many arrests, including children. Some of them are still detained to this day.
The residents of Issawiya are determined to continue their struggle for freedom. We will stand by their side in solidarity in a demonstration that will leave from the Lookout on Mount Scopus at 1:00 PM. The demonstration will begin immediately after a Muslim prayer service that will take place there. You can arrive either directly to the Lookout at 1:00 PM or at 12:45 PM at the Aroma Cafe by the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus.

Nearly 100 Palestinians and Israelis converged on Mount Scopus which overlooks the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday afternoon to march against a planned national park in the Issawiya and A-Tur neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem. They protest against the Jewish settlers who live in the Arab East Jerusalem's a-Tur neighborhood and against a decision by the Jerusalem municipality and Israel's Nature and Parks Authority (NPA) to build a national park on Palestinian land in a-Tur and Issawiya.
The proposed plan will place hundreds of acres of privately owned Palestinian land under the jurisdiction of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority. By allocating the area as a national park, the Israeli authorities avoid paying the necessary compensation.
The protest began following the traditional Friday prayer service. Palestinian boys hoisted Palestinian flags in the air, seen by authorities as an affront, and chanted in Arabic, “End the Occupation.
"It as a great parade. We walked into the Mount Scopus Observatory - Tur, through "Beit-Hoshen" settlement in the center of A-Tur neighborhood, up to the observatory opposite the Seven Arches Hotel. Residents of A-Tur went out of their homes and join us, and there was an excellent atmosphere that gives encouragement to continue the joint struggle and to expand it."

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